Posts tagged anticompetitive

After the European Commission accepted offers from Apple and four publishers to free up e-book pricing restrictions in December 2012, it's now accepted Penguin's commitment to do the same. Much like Penguin's vow to the US DOJ, it will end its agency agreements with Apple and other retailers, and ...

Google's drawn the ire of the Federal Trade Commission for myriad reasons over the past year, and so the FTC began a formal investigation into those transgressions. Today, Chairman Jon Leibowitz announced that the investigation has concluded with a settlement after the FTC found several issues wit...

Aereo's mini-antenna arrays started streaming OTA television broadcasts in Gotham a couple months ago in spite of the lawsuit filed by a few of New York's local stations to stop them from doing so. Today, it was able to dismiss its opponents' state law unfair competition claim under the theory of ...

They can hope and pray all that they want, but Google, Intel, Apple, Adobe, Intuit, Pixar and Lucasfilm will soon be facing some serious accusations in a courtroom under the Sherman Antitrust Act and California's Cartwright Act. After years of trying to dodge legal action over an "informal agreeme...

Google's position as the dominant search engine doesn't come without a price. Smaller search sites have already tapped on the EU Commission's door to register their complaints about how they are ranked, and Microsoft has also let its feelings on the matter be known. Now, we can add the Redmond spin...

Back in 2009, a small controversy began swirling around Google and Apple, amid allegations that the two companies had struck an informal agreement to not poach each other's employees. The Department of Justice launched an investigation into the matter in 2010, but details of the case were only mad...

Looks like AT&T isn't the only major carrier having issues with the guv'ment lately. Remember that 20MHz AWS spectrum that Verizon got from Cox Communications for a cool $315 million this month? How's about that juicy spectrum Big Red scored from Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House for $3.6 bi...

Just two days after the European Commission announced that it was investigating Apple and major international publishers for possible e-book price fixing, the US Justice Department has made it clear that it's also launching a probe into the possibility of "anticompetitive practices involving e-book...

The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into some of the world's largest publishers following a series of unannounced inspections back in March. Hachette Libre, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and the German owner of Macmillan are all suspected of "anti-com...

Apple's taken its war on Android around the world and has won several battles recently, but the latest news from Spain isn't so rosy for Cupertino. Last year, Apple filed suit against Spanish firm NT-K, alleging it was infringing Apple's iPad design-related IP. Shortly thereafter, Apple scored a ...

Well, look at Ma Bell now, wishing it'd all just go away. Tied up in lawsuits, the company has filed motions to dismiss the two complaints brought by Sprint and C Spire Wireless (formerly Cellular South), which seek to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile. In the filings, it's argued that the...

Sprint and Uncle Sam aren't the only ones taking issue with AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, because Cellular South has a bone to pick, as well. Yesterday, the provider filed a lawsuit against AT&T in a DC federal court, charging that its $39 billion merger with T-Mobile would v...

Google's South Korea offices have been raided once again -- this time, over alleged antitrust violations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) stormed Google's Seoul offices on Tuesday, amid claims that the company unfairly stifles competition by making it...

After the headache-inducing bout of hacking woes that beset the corporation in recent weeks, a new Department of Justice-led investigation into Sony's US electronics division may have the company emptying that aspirin bottle. Details of the inquiry are scarce at the moment, but with the company's...

Google's drawn the ire of the Federal Trade Commission before for failing to follow its own privacy policies. Now, however, the Mountain View crew is apparently facing a formal inquiry from the FTC as it seeks information about Google's search and advertising business. The civil investigative dem...

While Skyhook's lawsuit against Google has been ongoing since September, we've yet to hear the latter's side of the story to fight back anti-competition claims. That's all changed now that a Massachusetts state court has published a collection of internal emails from Mountain View, shedding some ...

So Microsoft doesn't like anticompetitive behavior, huh? Since when? Brad Smith, General Counsel for the Redmond rabblerousers, has posted a lengthy blog post outlining Microsoft's concerns with "a pattern of actions that Google has taken to entrench its dominance" in online search and ads, which h...

Way back in February, the European Union announced its intention to look into allegations made against Google that the search leader wasn't ranking its competitors fairly in the results it delivered. Well, that fact-finding mission seems to have unearthed at least some hint of impropriety on Google...

Attaboy, DoJ! Out of (almost) nowhere, the United States Department of Justice announced today that it was requiring six well-known technology outfits to stop entering into "anticompetitive employee solicitation agreements," and we're guessing you will have heard just a few of these names: Adobe, Ap...

It's been quite a stretch since the Federal Trade Commission first investigated and then ultimately sued Intel for alleged anticompetitive conduct, but the saga has now come to a close -- the two parties today announced a settlement of the charges. While that's no doubt better than some of the alte...